


Night

by joylss



Category: Arslan Senki | Heroic Legend of Arslan
Genre: Novel spoiler warnings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-20
Updated: 2018-01-20
Packaged: 2019-03-07 04:23:30
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 556
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13426740
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joylss/pseuds/joylss
Summary: He dismissed it, stern with a gaze. “Why did you do it?”Narsus grits his teeth, hands straining over the pen before he’d resolved to putting it down temporarily. “Wouldn’t you?” he inhales sharply and asks back, “For Xandes?” and Hilmes knows why it had to go that way. It’s the only way they could relate. “He’s the only family I’ve left.”





	Night

**Author's Note:**

> After news of Xandes' death travelled, Hilmes had his men capture Shagad, intended for revenge, but saw another way to put that petty life to good use.

_ ‘With two hands you cannot hold three goblets.’ _

 

A shadow looms over the small gap beneath the door. Narsus looks up, bemused, ignoring the flickering of his candle. It’s late in Ecbatana, way past the hour of midnight, and usually most of the household would’ve slept then. Except for him. Who was used to being the first to rise and the last to rest, throughout his days.

 

Hilmes enters, the steely surface of his mask unwavering, glowing even, aided by the candlelight Narsus has set up next to his desk beside two more others that have burned out - an affirmation to the number of hours since he’d sat there scribbling away at parchments and papers. Hilmes notes this with a sway of gaze behind that coldness he’d put up as a second, far more rigid invisible mask.

 

“You’ve come to check on me?”

 

“The light in your room has not yet cease despite the hour.” Hilmes reaches for a chair to sit. Exactly opposite to Narsus, the mere table and candle and papers that were scattered across, separates them. “I wondered.”

 

Then silence ensues, separating them infinitely, before Narsus speaks again:

 

“Instructions on our next move. How to do it, and why.” he says when he realizes Hilmes’ gaze inevitably gracing over his papers, moving back even when he tries to look away, “It’s not far from being finished. I thought you’d appreciate it.”

 

_ And why _ . Narsus knows Hilmes did not trust him yet, and was right to assume so. But with Shagad within his hands, at least he lives on the reassurance that Narsus dares not cross him yet.

 

He dismissed it, stern with a gaze. “Why did you do it?”

 

Narsus grits his teeth, hands straining over the pen before he’d resolved to putting it down temporarily. “Wouldn’t  _ you _ ?” he inhales sharply and asks back, “For Xandes?” and Hilmes knows why it had to go that way. It’s the only way they could relate. “He’s the only family I’ve left.”

 

“And he killed  _ him _ .” Hilmes’ breathe, too, hitches, and quickens to a pace he’s unfamiliar with. But that is exactly why it’s terrifying, seeing Narsus so composed, showing only little hints of being affected by Shagad’s timely death in his hands. Curse that tactician.

 

“Yet you didn’t kill  _ him _ . Instead, you sought to use him to blackmail me.”  _ You were desperate. _ The heavy truth of it all.  _ Your benefits outweigh the lives of your comrades.  _ “You’ve proven yourself an insouciant man. To both your comrade and your friend.”

 

Narsus with very little care to his speech, often hitting on all the raw places to make him mad with anger, or mad with  grief, and recently, it’s the latter. After he’s received news of Xandes’s violent death in Misr. He’d had his men capture Shagad, intended for revenge, but saw another way to put that petty life to good use.

 

“Enough.” In the end, Hilmes stood, before this could get any worse, dismissing his chair, the tails of his robes fluttering behind him like a ghastly breeze of wind. “Serve me well and you shall be compensated handsomely.”

 

“Good night, your Highness.”

 

Narsus watches as the door closes behind him, and sinks back into his chair. Expression and features numb from the prince’s brief visit. And wonders if Hilmes would ever really let Shagad go.


End file.
